


The Vampire Loves You

by sabaceanbabe



Category: Southern Vampire Mysteries - Harris
Genre: Gen, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-24
Updated: 2009-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-05 04:57:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabaceanbabe/pseuds/sabaceanbabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sookie's grandfather told her "the vampire loves you," but he never specified which one...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Vampire Loves You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KarmasChild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarmasChild/gifts).



_"The vampire is not a bad man, and he loves you."_

Those were the last words my grandfather Niall spoke to me, possibly (probably) the last words I'd ever hear from him, since his plan was to close the portal between his world and mine and I had no reason to believe that he hadn't done just that. But those words haunted me. Had he spoken of Eric? Or of Bill?

There wasn't much else to think about after he left, with my brother Jason following soon after. I didn't really _want_ to think about it, but even so, thinking about Eric versus Bill was much less unsettling than thinking about the awful things that Neave and Lachlan had done to me, or thinking about Claudine or Tray, whose funeral was set for tomorrow afternoon. It would be held during the daylight, so I couldn't even have Eric beside me for moral support, whether he'd be willing to attend a Were's funeral or not. I thought that maybe he would be, though, because Tray Dawson had died trying to help me.

Had Niall spoken of Eric or of Bill? And why did it matter so much?

I heard a knock on the back door, which meant that whoever it was knew I rarely used the front. After a couple of seconds, he or she knocked again, a little harder. Shifting under the weight of the covers on my bed was enough to cause scabs and scrapes to catch on the sheets, enough to cause discomfort if not outright pain. Of course, tensing my barely healed muscles to shift my poor legs caused real pain, so it's not like I missed out on anything. As I steeled myself to push up out of the bed and try to answer the door, I heard voices in the kitchen – Amelia and a man whose voice was too soft, too low for me to identify from here. I hadn't realized Amelia was home.

Even that little bit of movement – or proto-movement, since I didn't actually manage to go anywhere – exhausted me and I must have dozed off. The next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and Sam Merlotte was sitting in a chair beside the bed, just looking at me. I blinked at him and he smiled, his eyes sad, worried.

"How you feelin', chere?" he asked and reached out to gently smooth a stray lock of hair back from my cheek. The gesture made me feel like I was something fragile and precious and tears began to well, but I blinked them away. And here I'd thought I had no more tears, that I'd cried them all out that horrible night.

"I feel like something the cat dragged in, Sam." I gave him a weak attempt at a smile. "And I must look like something that darn kitty should probably have left by the side of the rode where she found it."

His smile widened, lighting up his blue eyes. "I gotta say, Sook, I can't disagree with you on that." Before I could summon the energy for some mock outrage, Sam took my hand in his and kissed my knuckles, bringing the back of my hand up against the stubble on his cheek. "Honestly, Sookie, I'm glad they found you and brought you back to us."

Sam knew all about what had happened. Most of it, anyway. He knew about the fairy war and he knew that while Eric had been off doing… something (he still hadn't told me what it was, why it was so important that he couldn't come after me himself, not that I was bitter or anything), Niall and Bill had found me and rescued me. Bill had nearly died in the effort.

I must've been too quiet for too long, because Sam's brows drew down into a slight frown and he shifted in the chair, laying my hand back down on the mattress, but covering it with his own to maintain that small point of contact. "You look like you want to talk about something," he observed.

And suddenly I did want to talk to him about it. Sam was my friend, one of the few people in my life who knew about my disability, as I called it, and accepted me for who and what I was. He cared about me and he also knew all about the vampires in my life and why I preferred to be with them to human men. If I could talk to anyone about this, it was Sam. Although a small part of me also knew that it wasn't quite fair, because yes, Sam cared for me, but those feelings weren't entirely platonic.

Before I could second guess myself or talk myself out of it, I poured out the Readers' Digest version of Niall's and my conversation the day before (he already knew about how Niall and I came to meet), what he'd said about "the vampire" and that he hadn't specified which one he'd meant. Sam hadn't approved of my relationship with Bill and he didn't approve of the relationship I had now with Eric, but Sam was a fair man and if I asked him his opinion, he'd give it to me, unvarnished and unabridged. And that's what I needed right now. I needed to know what Sam thought about it all.

When the torrent of words was finished, he blinked in surprise and started to lean back into his chair, which would have pulled his warm hand away from mine, so I held onto his hand and wouldn't let him pull back. He raised an eyebrow at me, but did what I silently asked and kept his hand in mine, leaning toward me instead of away, resting his elbows on his knees. His expression was thoughtful.

"You said that your grandfather worked with Eric for a long time before he finally contacted you through him."

I would have nodded, but it hurt too much, so I simply said, "Yes."

"And as far as you know, Niall never met Bill before a couple of nights ago."

I didn't answer that one, but I really didn't need to. Sam was only confirming what I'd already told him and I thought I could see where he was headed.

"Now, I don't know Niall all that well, Sook, but it seems to me from what I do know that he'd refer to Eric as 'the vampire.' Eric's the one he talked to the most and he's the one who's higher up in the vamp hierarchy."

There was a certain truth to what he said; it sounded right. My grandfather Niall was a Prince of Fairy, maybe even the last Prince of Fairy, after the events of a few days ago. And he was very much conscious of things like social standing and etiquette, even if he didn't try to show it so much when he was around me. Bill had found me and had stayed near me to wait for reinforcements in the form of one powerful – and powerfully angry – fairy prince, but Niall would have seen that as no more than what was appropriate. Bill was Eric's employee and Eric had called him in to look for me, so as far as Niall was concerned, Bill was following the orders of his lord.

I still didn't really know what to think, but Sam made sense. Niall probably was referring to Eric when he said "the vampire loves you," but I'd never really know for sure.

I must have still seemed troubled, because Sam shifted again, patted my hand. "You rest, sweetheart. We all of us have a rough day ahead of us tomorrow. I'll be here if you need me."

And he would be. I let myself relax and cleared my mind, at least temporarily, of all the niggling doubts. I closed my eyes, my hand still in Sam's, and drifted off to sleep.


End file.
